Hunter's Moon
by Shella Winchester
Summary: The boy who lived, yadda, yadda. We all know how it begins. Instead of being tossed to the Dursleys, an old friend of James Potter's -the Alpha werewolf of the North American Pack - steps in and takes Harry under his wing.  Full summary inside
1. October: Hunter's Moon

_Hey! So I've recently gotten back into a Harry Potter obsession! I'm so psyched for the seventh movie!_

_Yeah, well I've been researching Kitsune (a japanese fox-spirit) and started thinking about werewolves. Then I started reading Kelley Armstrong, and got totally sucked into her world. So, based on her werewolves, I created a similar kind, but thought, hey this would be cool if there were werewolves going to Hogwarts! And this story was born. I don't really have a plot planned out for this story yet, but its been a while since I wrote in third person, so bear with me; this can sound pretty bad, and I apologize._

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter! And aspect of my wolves that sound like Kelley Armstrong is probably Kelley Armstrong!  
**

**Title: **_Hunters Moon_  
**By: **_Me (duh)_  
**Rating: **_T/T+ for strong imagery and language_  
**Summary: **_Instead of being tossed to the Dursleys, an old friend of James Potter's -the Alpha werewolf of the North American Pack - steps in and takes Harry under his wing. Instead of growing up neglected, Harry grows up with an actual family. When his eleventh birthday rolls around, he attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (with a werewolf upbringing)and as tho Boy-Who-Live accompanied by the offspring of the Pack Alpha, Harry will have to face challenges not just of the wizarding world, but of the world of his Pack family as well._

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**Chapter 1. October-Hunter's Moon  
**

"I won't listen to any more of this bullshit, Dumbledore! That boy is safer with us than any blood spell you wizards could have cooked up!" A tall, muscular man in his mid twenties slammed his fist onto the picnic table, nearly slitting it in half.

The old man sitting across from him wasn't fazed by this show of strength. Instead, he looked the taller man in the eye and said, "Ah, once again, it comes down to this. We put our faith in our spells, and you in your bonds."

"And look where that's gotten you. James and Lily dead. Their child orphaned. You know I can't stand your Zen lessons, old man. Mark my words, that boy will be better protected with us. Voldemort's gone, and even if he tries to come after him, in his weakened state, a child could take him down." The man's tone changed. "Please. James was my friend. We will treat this child far better than any of his human relatives can. We can protect him better."

The older man was quiet, contemplating.

The elderly woman in green sitting next to Dumbledore now piped up. "Surely you're not considering this, Albus! The protecting of his mother's sacrifice is far more sufficient—"

"Bullshit." The young man stood up and glowered at her. "Our blood runs far bluer than your, witch. Take care to remember that."

"Ethan!" Dumbledore said sharply. "Let us keep our peace, after such a long war, we wouldn't want the peace we've found to be shattered with another war. Professor McGonagall was simply saying what she thought was best."

Ethan scowled, but sat down, his sharp blue eyes never leaving Professor McGonagall.

After a long pause, Dumbledore finally said, "Very well, the boy may go with you. However, I must impress upon you the seriousness of his situation. We mustn't let the boy live with the fame and glory he would have if a wizarding family is to take him in."

Ethan started at Dumbledore, his expression unreadable. "I will not lie to him, Dumbledore. When he is older, I will tell him about what has happened. Until then, I will treat him like a normal child. Rest assured, Lily and James Potters' son will be protected and well cared for."

Dumbledore nodded. "Very well then. When Hagrid arrives, there shall be a change in plans. We will allow the boy to leave with you for America, and he shall be placed under your care."

"Don't worry, old man. I'll keep you updated. I'll even send you pictures of the guy. Not your moving ones, mind. Those always set me off," Ethan said.

Once again, Dumbledore simply nodded.

"Are you sure about this?" Professor McGonagall asked desperately. "The boy will be famous—a legend, even! I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future—there will be books written about Harry—every child in our world will know his name! Who knows how many death eaters will come after him, bent on avenging their master!"

Ethan turned to face her. Professor McGonagall met his gaze with a fierce one of her own and finally, for the first time since they met, a flicker of respect appeared in his gaze. "I swear," he said, startling her. "I swear on my position as Alpha of the North American Pack that I and my Pack will do everything in our power to protect Harry Potter. As long as he is on our territory, there is no one who will be able to touch him."

At that, Professor McGonagall relented, knowing that nothing she said would change then men's minds now.

"Now," Ethan said, turning back to Dumbledore. "When can I meet the little guy?"

"Hagrid should be coming soon enough. I assume you have your transportation all planned out?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yeah."

"Very well. I propose a toast then, as we wait." Dumbledore waved his wand and summoned glasses and a bottle of champagne and a few lemon drops for himself. "From a personal collection, and one I'm rather fond of." He poured out a glass for each and raised it. "To Harry Potter."

The other two followed suit. "To Harry Potter."

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_I've started Chapter Two, so please tell me what you think of the concept so far. There won't be much romance, mostly action, humor and some mystery, but I think the romance will be kept at a minimum, as to avoid conflicts with certain shippings out there._

_And for anyone who reads my other stuff, I'm still working on it, I've been scrapping chapter eight over and over, so I need to decide on something and then I can post it. Sorry.  
_

_Please review!_


	2. Thunder Moon: Changes

_So here's the update. I know this chapter's a little boring because there's a lot of explaining, but it'll start picking up in the next chapter._

_Thanks for the reviews, I didn't really have big expectations for this because it was sort of a side story thing, but it seems pretty fun, so I'll work on this harder, I promise!

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_

**Chapter Two.**

For almost ten years, Harry Potter had lived in a large house in the outskirts of Queens, New York. He lived with his adoptive-father, Ethan Winchester, and his adoptive-sister, Eve Winchester. He never knew his adoptive-mother, but Ethan had explained to him (when he explained about him being adopted) that she'd been a halfblood witch who'd left himself and Eve shortly after giving birth to her.

Harry himself, Ethan had explained, was the son of Lily and James Potter, both wizard and witch, and close friends of Ethan's. Just last year, Ethan had finally explained to him what had happened to his family, telling him from the beginning about the Lord Voldemort character and how he'd killed his parents. Normally, a parent wouldn't explain such things to a child in such blunt details, but Ethan wasn't exactly normal. For that matter, Ethan and Eve weren't exactly human.

Eve and Ethan were werewolves of the North American Pack. The North American Pack werewolves were a different breed of werewolf compared to the European kind. In fact, the American breed of werewolf dispelled of pretty much every stereotype Harry had ever heard. For one, they didn't follow full moon cycles; they could Change when they pleased, as long as they did it often enough so that the wolf part didn't get out of control. Secondly, they become wolves when they're changed, not the half wolf-half man the movies depict. And finally, they tended not to mate, since there were very few female werewolves, and their slow aging and long lifespan make it hard for any of them to settle down without raising suspicion.

For as long as he could remember, Harry had lived with the Pack as a member of the Pack. That's not to say he'd strip butt-naked and hunt with them or eat raw meat, but they treated him as if he were a brother of the Pack.

This morning, Harry woke to Eve belly flopping onto him, bouncing in excitement. "Wake up, Harry, wake up! Happy birthday! We're going to the beach! We're going to the beach!"

Harry threw her off the bed and she rolled away, getting to her feet. At thirteen, she only looked like a ten year old due to the slowed aging process, but she already stood at five feet tall. She had a lean, but well muscled body—well deserved for all the time she spent running to release all that pent up energy—but an oval, slightly chubby face framed with long, dark brown hair. Like Harry, her eyes were green, but while his were an intense emerald, hers were a relaxed aquamarine.

Despite them being related, except for their height, Eve looked almost nothing like Ethan. He was tall, dark and muscular, but had dark black hair and dark blue eyes. Even at thirty-nine, he looked to be in his mid twenties, and often time, they had to lie and say that he was their uncle. Despite that, Harry and Eve still could've passed as his children-what feature one lacked, the other seemed to have. Harry himself was a small and skinny thing. He had wild, unkempt black hair, a think face, knobbly knees, round glasses over his bright green eyes, and a most peculiar scar on his forehead, shaped like a lightning bolt—from when his parents died, Ethan had explained. Recently, he'd finally started building up some muscles—though not nearly enough to get him out of his awkward, lanky looking stage yet.

A burning smell wafted up into his bedroom and Harry leapt out of bed. "Ethan's making breakfast again, isn't he?" He asked, jamming his glasses onto his face. A roll of scotch tape kept the two lenses together—a trophy from the many wrestling matches he got into with Eve. Ethan had offered to replace them, but he'd refused—what good was getting new glasses when he knew he was just going to break it the next time he 'played' with Eve?

Eve nodded. "I tried to stop him, but he insisted. Said he wanted to make your favorite breakfast for you."

Harry never understood why Ethan never gave up trying to cook on their birthdays. Both his and Eve's birthdays from the past five years had ended with a visit from the fire department, the police, or both. In fact, last year, on Eve's birthday, he'd actually blown up the kitchen trying to make sunny side up eggs (Harry couldn't even begin to fathom how he'd done it), and they had ended up sharing a Dairy Queen birthday cake with all of the firefighters.

Hastily, he ran downstairs to the kitchen. Luckily, Ethan had just started cooking, and Harry managed to stop him from doing any more.

Eve came in a few minutes later with the mail. "Birthday cards from all the Pack—or the ones who actually know how to send the mail."

Although most of the Pack treated Harry like a fellow Pack brother, they didn't really accept him as another werewolf, which was fine by Harry. There were only one or two werewolves who actually gave him trouble, but strange things tended to happen around Harry, and they always seemed to end up in a bad position. Not that he was complaining, mind.

"Hey! There're two identical letters for me and Harry!" Eve exclaimed, dropping another letter on top of the large pile of his birthday cards. She excitedly tore open the letter and read, "_Dear Mrs. Winchester. We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepting into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._" She stopped. "What?"

Harry opened his as well and found a similar letter from the Deputy Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall. He stared at it, more puzzled over the strange list of school supplies than the letter itself; he was, after all, a wizard. "I don't get it. Why do I need a wand and all this stuff? Eve does her magic without it."

Ethan shrugged. "The Europeans have always been a sucker for tradition, in my opinion. After the inquisition, a lot of witches and wizards started diverging from their original spellcasting ways. They eventually developed their own way of casting, with incantations and verses, and sheer willpower. That's what kind of witch Eve's mother was. Your parents were traditional witches and wizards, through-and-through."

"Then why do I have a letter?" Eve demanded. "I like the way my spellcasting works." Werewolves don't usually have magic, but her mother was a witch, so Eve ended up as a half-werewolf, half-witch. She had power from both sides, but the werewolf genes seemed to dominate the witch genes. And even though her mother had been a powerful spellcaster, it seemed like Eve was going to grow up with only a fraction of that power-so far, she'd only been able to perform extremely basic spells. Besides, she never bothered too much to embrace her witch side; she liked being a werewolf too much.

"You don't have to go," Ethan shrugged. "I could care less. You don't need witchcraft to protect yourself."

Harry frowned. "Does that mean I have to go?" That wasn't fair at all! Just because Eve was a werewolf and the Pack knew spellcasters who knew Eve's type of magic, he had to go all the way to London and go to school? And since it was London, he's probably be going to a boarding school. That was so unfair!

"I'm not trying to say 'ha-ha, you drew the short end of the stick and now you have to go to school.' I'm saying that you're a pure-blooded wizard, and for you to not learn how to control your powers, that could be a dangerous thing to all of us. And don't even think of suggesting you learn the ways of the non-traditional spellcaster," he added when Harry opened his mouth to argue. "That's something that has been developed over centuries. Now it's genetic. You're the European traditional wizard. So you're going to learn to control your powers like one."

Grudgingly, Harry looked down back at his letter. "What do they mean 'we await your owl'?"

Ethan rolled his eyes. "Stupid McGonagall. As if we could even approach an owl without scaring it shitless. Owls are the prime source of communication for wizards and witches. Inconvenient if you ask me. What it someone shot it?"

Eve snorted. Harry just shrugged. If he went to school, did that mean he wouldn't be able see any of the Pack till the holidays? That would really—

"If Harry goes, I will," Eve said suddenly. "Can't let a lone Pack member off by himself. Especially when he's as dumb as Harry."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Harry asked indignantly.

She just grinned and ran off to cook breakfast.

"Hey dad," Harry called. "Can you tell me more about my other world?"

Ethan shrugged and took a seat across the table from Harry. "Hell, I don't really know what to tell you. I guess I could tell you what I know about Hogwarts. It's this big castle in the middle of nowhere, and there are four houses-Griffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house is supposed to be filled with students that carry the qualities the founders liked. You parents were both in Griffindor."

"And Voldemort?" Harry prodded.

"I think he was in Slytherin." Ethan leaned back and said, "I never really bothered to figure out the wizard and witch political crap. It never really mattered, as long as it didn't concern my Pack."

Something Harry had always observed with interest was the way the Pack seemed to view a lot of the other magical creatures as inferior, except vampires and demons. Eve had tried to explain it (as well as a ten year old could then), but what made sense to someone with wolf instincts made no sense whatsoever to him. Ethan also maintained the same philosophy, and even then, he couldn't be bothered with the demons and vampires unless they were causing ruckus on his territory.

"Anyway, they're going to teach you how to use your magic with wands, spells, incantations and stuff. If I remember correctly, there are classes for transforming crap, basic spells, and some defense and attack spells. Other than that, I can't tell you much." Ethan picked up Eve's letter and sighed. "I think if we're going to get all of this organized, we'd better tell the rest of the pack and figure out how we're going to be going to London."

Eve stuck her head in. "Bad news. Dad screwed up the stove, so we're going to have to go out to eat."

"Perkins?" Harry immediately suggested.

"Buca de Beppo!" Ethan overruled.

Harry laughed. Only a werewolf would want a fully five-course Italian meal for breakfast. Thankfully, Eve seemed to be leaning toward Perkins as well, so the three of them piled into Ethan's Mercedes-Benz Cabriolet.

"Oh, here." Eve twisted from her shotgun spot and handed him a package. "Happy birthday, Harry."

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Several days later, Harry noticed a strange woman pacing in front of their house. She was wearing the strangest assortment of clothing, and her brown hair streaked with silver was pulled back in a severe looking bun.

Ethan was out in a Pack meeting. Usually, Eve and Harry would tag along, but this time, Eve had opted out, since the only other werewolf their age –Ryan Sullivan, whom Eve seemed to have a major crush on –wasn't attending due to a cold.

Harry read and re-read his letter in his room, wondering why Ethan had never prepared him for something like this. If he'd told Harry everything else about his family, why had he left out this particular detail? He peered out the window and saw the lady still pacing, practically wearing a trench in the street. Eve must've been in the shower, or she'd've smelled the woman right away.

Over the past few days, Harry had noticed that the letter seemed to really bother Eve. He didn't bother asking her why, knowing that if it was really an issue, she'd have talked to Ethan already. Still, he couldn't help but wonder if it had anything to do with her missing mother.

Both Ethan and Eve tried to avoid the whole mother subject. Harry wasn't quite sure if it was because her mother was still alive or if she was already dead. Both situations held good reason to avoid the subject. He wanted to ask, but knew better than to pry; Eve didn't know much, and as Pack Alpha, Ethan was too busy to be answering touchy questions just to satisfy Harry's curiosity.

He turned back to the letter. '_Standard book of spells Grade 1_'? '_A History of Magic_'? Where was he supposed to get these books? He'd already googled them, and nothing had come up. And if this was a completely different world, what about money? Ethan was already paying for everything else, and even though he's said that he didn't mind, if the books were expensive, he—

A loud explosion outside cut off his thoughts.

He raced to the window and saw a large reddish-brown wolf race into the backyard, the lady hot on its tail. Seconds later, he heard the back door slam. Without another glance outside, he ran downstairs just in time to see Eve race into the woods in their backyard wearing only shorts and a sports bra.

Not quite sure what just happened, but knowing that Eve tearing after another wolf couldn't be a good sign, he dived into the woods after them. He followed the path of broken twigs and eventually heard the sounds of fighting.

The lady and the red-brown werewolf (Harry assumed it was a werewolf. After all, no wolf could be that large) stood several yards from each other. Eve was nowhere to be seen.

The lady was holding up a twig, no doubt one she'd broken, and was pointing it at the werewolf menacingly. Harry applauded her for her bravery but had to roll his eyes at her stupidity. As if a little stick could hold off a werewolf. He decided to start looking for Eve –after all, there was nothing he could do in this situation –when the lady yelled, "_Diffindo_!"

Something flew out of the stick and slashed viciously at the werewolf, who let out a howl before leaping at the lady.

"_Protego_!" The lady shouted, and the werewolf slammed into an invisible barrier.

Harry watched, fascinated, as the two continued to attack and block each other. The werewolf had just managed to dodge one of the slash attacks when another large wolf barreled out of the woods, slamming into it with such force it went flying backwards.

The other wolf was smaller than the one it attacked, with dark brown fur. It was currently puffed out to its fullest, making it seem a little bigger than it was. Its eyes wandered through the woods and finally found Harry's and he immediately realized that it was Eve. Before anyone could react, the larger wolf can flying at her.

She danced out of the way, though not quite fast enough, and it managed to bite onto her leg and tossed her into a small tree, which snapped under her weight. Now it was the lady's turn to stare as the two wolves fought each other. However, Harry immediately realized that Eve was heavily outmatched in this fight. Not only was the other wolf bigger and stronger, but he had a lot more experience and easily dodged many of Eve's attacks.

Harry desperately wanted to do something, but he wasn't a werewolf and was no match for anything like this. He could, however, distract the larger wolf long enough for Eve to really hit it hard. So, he found a decently sized tree and started climbing.

When the two wolves were close enough, he leapt and landed awkwardly on the larger wolf's back. Startled, it growled and bucked, but he squeezed his eyes shut, grabbed fistfuls of fur and hung on for dear life. It was at that time he felt hot liquid bubble under his fingers. He opened his eyes and saw Eve dart out from under the wolf, muzzle covered in blood.

Now the wolf wheeled on him, and Harry felt excruciating pain in his forearm a split second before he was thrown onto the ground. The wolf lunged at him but Eve barreled into it again, shoving it aside. Immediately, the wolf whirled, snarling and snapping. Suddenly, Eve let out a howl as it grabbed her by the neck and threw her into a tree, where she fell and didn't get back up.

It turned, advancing on her. Harry was frantically trying to figure out how to help Eve and get out of this alive when another wolf flew out of the woods and flung itself between the werewolf and Eve. Ethan.

In wolf form, he was bigger than even the brown wolf, and currently, he was a whole lot scarier too. His fangs were bared, blue eyes flashing dangerously. He let out a snarl that would've sent Satan himself running, and the wolf immediately turned its full attention to him.

Harry ran over to Eve, who was semi-conscious, and glanced around. The woman was still standing there, completely shocked at the scene playing out before her. He snorted. Typical.

"Eve? Hey, wake up!" He shook the large wolf (jarring his arm and sending stabs of pain through it), who growled and shook her head. Harry rolled his eyes. "Hey, dad's kicking a werewolf's ass and you're missing it. Not to mention he's never going to let it go that you got owned by—"

She scrambled to her feet, nearly knocking Harry onto his back. He laughed and she huffed at him before settling down to watch. He leaned against her, enjoying a rare moment where she was actually not moving as a wolf. It was times like this he actually felt like part of the Pack.

Meanwhile, Ethan and the other wolf were circling each other. Ethan snarled and lunged, purposefully missing and wheeling with a warning growl. But the other wolf snarled back, something flickering in his eyes—a challenge.

"Oh," Harry muttered. Now he got it. The wolf was obviously here to challenge the Pack Alpha.

Fortunately, the fight didn't last very long. As soon as Ethan figured that the wolf wasn't backing off, he went all out. The struggle lasted maybe a minute, and ended with Ethan pinning the wolf on the ground. Growling ensued, and when it was clear the other wolf wasn't willing to give up, Ethan glanced at Eve.

Immediately, Eve got up and nudged Harry up, then shoved her head between his legs. He scrambled to climb onto her back. He knew how much she hated this, so it said a lot about how urgently she wanted him out of here. She bolted the minute he was safely on.

Seconds later, they arrived at the spot where she'd Changed and he went off to the side as she Changed back. Harry stared back in the direction they'd come from as screams echoed through the area. Changing was a painful process, especially for a new werewolf, and Eve had only started her Changes last year.

"Hey." Eve walked over, buttoning her jeans and looked slightly exhausted. "How's your arm?" She frowned, gently taking Harry's arm. He winced and finally got a good look at the wounds. There were five deep bite marks there, bleeding freely. "Oh crap. Come on, let's get you inside so I can wrap that up." She started out of the woods. Even though he'd lived there his entire life, he still had trouble figuring out his way in the woods.

As soon as they got into the house, Eve started throwing things around, trying to find the medical kit. Unfortunately, having werewolf strength, the expression 'throwing things around' was rather literal, although she found the kit quickly after tossing a chair behind the couch.

She'd just started applying the antiseptic to Harry's wound when the back door opened.

They looked up to see Ethan and the lady walk in. Ethan was only in his jeans, which were smeared with dirt and blood, and he did not look happy. The lady shot random glares at him, and looked a little miffed. "Oh. Hey guys," Ethan greeted, raising a blood-splattered hand. "What's up?"

"Um, my arm's bleeding, and Eve probably has a concussion," Harry said. "Other than that, not much."

"You're too young to be sarcastic," Ethan said, plopping into a chair.

Eve scoffed. "Says the man who makes Chandler from Friends look like a girl scout."

The lady cleared her throat.

"Oh." Ethan glanced over. "Forgot about you. Kids, this is Professor Minerva McGonagall, deputy—"

"Hey! You're the one who wrote the letter!" Eve exclaimed. "It's cool to meet you! How's it going? Sorry, I'd shake your hand, but I'm a little busy trying to fix Harry here."

"Oh my goodness," Professor McGonagall said, peering at the wound. "Was that from earlier?"

"No, he likes to take time to stab himself," Ethan growled.

"Dad!" Eve yelled.

Harry was staring at professor McGonagall. She was not exactly what he'd expected. Her clothes were a little messy, and she had on the weirdest combination of a green shirt and black pants. She glanced over at him with a severe look on her face. "I could heal that, if you wouldn't mind."

Ethan nodded. "That would probably better. Not to mention there wouldn't be any scarring."

Professor McGonagall looked at Ethan approvingly and took out her twig (Harry had figured out by now that it was a wand) then muttered something under her breath and waved it at his arm. After a few seconds, the wounds stopped bleeding and closed.

"Nice," Eve said, impressed.

"Allow me to properly introduce myself," Professor McGonagall said. "I am Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor house and the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." She didn't offer her hand to shake, but Harry suspected that handshaking wasn't a common thing in the wizarding world.

"How do you know dad?" Eve asked.

"McGonagall and I have known each other for a long time. Longer than either of us would care to admit. She was just starting as a teacher when James and Lily were in school, and I was off on…official business with Dumbledore, so we all met each other then." Ethan said. "We don't exactly see eye-to-eye, but we make do."

"Was that when you met my father as well?" Harry asked. While Ethan had been very good on telling him things most adults wouldn't even consider revealing to him, he never bothered talking about Harry's parents. It wasn't because he didn't care, he just didn't really see the nostalgia thing the same way most humans did.

"No. I met _him_ while I was in the forbidden forest. James just couldn't keep himself out of trouble. If anything, I'd say he goes out of his way to find it. Anyway, I was in the Forbidden Forest, hunting, when I ran into your father. He knew another werewolf and was fascinated by the difference between the breeds," Ethan grinned. "The Europeans don't exactly bother teaching their kids about the North American breed of werewolves."

"Yeah, yeah," Eve rolled her eyes, then asked the question Harry had been dying to ask. "Now that we're done walking down memory lane, hope you don't mind me asking, Professor, but why are you here?"

"Ah, yes." Professor McGonagall turned to Ethan. "Professor Dumbledore thought it would be best if I came to pick the two children up today and take them to London."

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_Thanks for reading! Like I said, sorry if the chapter dragged. I'll make the next one more exciting, hopefully. They go to Diagon alley! Yay!  
_

_Anyway, please review!_


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